"query about formations" Topic

during the Great War, when the RFC went on a patrol, was it a four plane section? same question for both the Germans & French? I look forward to your help

I get the feeling that it depended. Single roving hopefuls (as Ball) were not uncommon. The number allocated to a job increased after late 1916 and really increased in 1918.

As Reddrabs writes could be, but often a section of five or six which is quite handy for gaming…

Sometimes more especially during late 1918.

Hi

Formations primarily are designed for group activity. This means, pre-radio, the thing is designed for the followers to, errr, follow. Meaning everyone has to be able to see the commands of the leader.

Until WW2, this is commonly a "VIC" formation with everyone stepped up and to the side so that they can all SEE the leader and the plane next to them. The reason this goes away later is that people watching for commands from the leader aren't looking for "ball" to sneak up on them.

So, standard, 3 plane vics, then 6 then 9.. and so on.

Rocky

RFC favoured a 4 or 5 plane patrol from 1916 onwards (a flight was generally 6 aircraft, so allowed for a machine or two u/s) while the Germans tended to be keen on flying in Jasta strength (nominally 14, frequently 8-10 in practice) – in late '18 it all escalated, as the Germans implemented larger groups as regular practice (there was only one Jagdgeschwader pre-1918, with three more formed in 1918, and a number of informal Jagdgruppen formed of the squadrons supporting an army.) The British also started shifting towards squadron strength ops over the course of '18 in particular, and late on were even mounting entire wing raids, particularly against enemy aerodromes. (That said, even singletons remained right to the end, especially for balloon busting, when one aircraft "sneaking up" was sometimes deemed more likely to succeed in getting the balloon before it could be hauled down.)

Dom.